Documents setting out the long-term planning strategy for the District will be considered by St Albans City and District Council’s Cabinet on 18 October 2012.
The
planning documents include the draft Strategic Local Plan which contains the long-term strategic planning policy for the District. The Plan provides a framework for infrastructure and development policy, up until 2028. Once formally adopted the Plan will partially replace the 1994 Local Plan on which planning policy is currently based.
The Council is currently seeking views from councillors and members of the public on the emphasis and clarity of the documents and whether they are legally ‘sound’.
As part of this process, public meetings were held on 19 and 24 September 2012. The Local Services Scrutiny Committee also considered the Plan on 27 September and 4 October. Feedback from four major public consultations since 2006 has also been instrumental in shaping the Plan.
Cabinet will now look at the Plan on 18 October, before it goes to Council on 28 November for further consideration.
Councillor Julian Daly, Leader of the Council said: “We are in the final stages of agreeing the Strategic Local Plan which sets out planning policy for the District until 2028. The Plan makes provision for additional affordable housing and is designed to protect the Green Belt as much as possible. We aim to publish the draft Strategic Local Plan later this year.”
The public will have a minimum of six weeks to provide feedback on what is effectively the final draft of the Plan. At this stage the focus is on testing the ‘soundness’ and legal conformity of the document against the National Planning Policy Framework and Planning Regulations.
The Plan will be submitted to the Government for public examination next year. An examination in public, in front of a Planning Inspector, is likely to take place in late 2013.
The
Cabinet meeting is open to the public and can be watched on the Council’s website either live or at a later date.
The
agenda for the meeting is available on the Council’s website.
Councillor contact:
Councillor Julian Daly, Leader and Portfolio Holder for Resources at St Albans City and District Council
Mob: 07775 657200
Contact for the media:
Amanda Wilkinson,
Media and Internal Communications Officer
St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01727 819317
E-mail: amanda.wilkinson@stalbans.gov.uk
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